


The end of childhood

by Hawkeye_girl



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Tragedy, Awesome Clint Barton, Awesome James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Awesome Natasha Romanov, Awesome Sam Wilson, Awesome Wanda Maximoff, Betrayal, Bucky Barnes Feels, Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, Civil War Team Captain America, Civil War Team Iron Man, Clint Barton Feels, Clint Barton Is a Good Bro, Dark, Dark Avengers - Freeform, Deaf Clint Barton, F/M, Fights, Fluff and Angst, Gang Violence, Gangs, Gangsters, Heavy Angst, Human Vision (Marvel), Hurt Clint Barton, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Scott Lang, Hurt Steve Rogers, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt Wanda Maximoff, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes Needs a Hug, Kid Peter Parker, Kid Scott Lang, Kid Wanda Maximoff, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark Friendship, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Clint Barton, Protective James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Sam Wilson, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective T'Challa (Marvel), Protective Team, Robbery, Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Sam Wilson is a Gift, Scott Lang Needs a Hug, Scott Lang is a Good Bro, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson Friendship, Steve Rogers is Not Captain America, Team, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team Feels, Team Fluff, Team Up, Team as Family, Teenagers, Tension, Threats of Violence, Tony Stark Has Issues, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2020-09-07 02:51:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20302231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkeye_girl/pseuds/Hawkeye_girl
Summary: AU where the Avengers are gang members, struggling to survive.It's basically Team Cap v. Team Iron Man.The fragile balance of these teenagers' life is destroyed when a deal is broken.





	1. So this is war

**Author's Note:**

> NEW FIC !  
I had this idea a few months ago and I really wanted t write about it !  
Hope you like it !  
If you do, please leave a kuo and a comment to tell me what you think about it  
Hawkeye_girl

The air was cold in New-York this morning. It was only a few days away from winter now. There was ice on the streets and most people were having trouble staying on their two feet. Even stray cats and dogs were staying inside, where they could.   
However, one person didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold, not even by the ice. The blond muscular teenager was walking quickly, restlessly, as if he were looking for someone. His light blue eyes were constantly moving, scrutinizing the streets. From time to time, he would also look over his shoulder, as if he were checking that he wasn’t being followed. He didn’t seem to be older than sixteen years old.  
At some point, hearing a whisper, he suddenly turned his head.

“- Pssst ! Steve ! On your left !”

A small smile appeared on the blond’s face as he noticed the black teenager half-crouched behind a bin. He hurried up to join and hug his friend.

“- Hey Sam…”, he murmured, clearly not wanting to be heard, even if the streets were deserted. “I just met Clint… Is it true ? What he said ?”

Clenching his jaw, the other boy nodded, a flash of fury in his eyes. Opening his mouth, he explained:

“- I was with him when it happened… We were both near the bridge, minding our own business, when they jumped us from all sides !”

“- The Iron Men…”, sighed Steve, running a hand on his face.

“- We had a deal !”, nearly yelled Sam, who clearly had a hard time controlling his wrath. “Half the city for them, the other half for us. The bridge was the border. And they crossed it !”

“- Sam, calm down…”, begged Steve, looking around him. They didn’t need the cops to come here.

“- No, I won’t !”, insisted Sam, his voice breaking down. “They tried to take Clint’s hearing aids ! Said it would make good money ! And they took Red Wing ! I built this drone from scrap I found into bins, Steve ! When I tried to stop them, they gave me this !”

The black kid lift up his shirt a little, just enough to show the ugly bruise on his ribs. It was nearly purple, with some yellow stains.

“- Stark did this to me. He would have done more, if it weren’t for Clint, who punched him in the face. They were too many and we had to retreat…without Red Wing…”

“- Sam, I’m so sorry”, sighed Steve.

“- I asked Clint to warn you and to get Wanda, James and Scott while we waited for them in the warehouse.”

Steve nodded. He couldn’t believe it. The Iron Men and The Captains had been at peace for nearly a year now, since the creation of the border… It was weird of Stark and his team to launch such an attack on them…  
He followed Sam, who was walking at a quick pace towards the end of the street. They turned into another street, and another, and another, and suddenly they were outside of the city. An abandoned building was standing right in front of them, surrounded by a fence. In a jump, the two boys swiftly escalated it and ran inside of the building, leaving footsteps on the snow around it.  
Once inside, they immediately got warmer, mostly thanks to the fire in the middle of the building. Four teenagers were already sitting around it. One of them seemed to be around sixteen years old, like Steve and Sam. He had long, dark hair, and his grey eyes were staring at the fire. Next to him, was a younger boy, around fifteen years old, with sandy blond hair, blue eyes, a pair of hearing aids, and especially a shiner on his left eye. A bit further from the flames were a girl and a boy, clearly the youngest ones of the group, barely over thirteen years old. The boy was small, with brown hair and brown eyes, like the girl, except that her hair was a bit lighter.

“- Hey guys !”, exclaimed loudly Steve, to make sure that everyone could hear him. “How has your day been ?”

“- I managed to sell five ecstasy pills and got us 100 dollars”, grinned the grey-eyed boy.

“- Nice one, Bucky !”, smiled Steve with a nod of approval.

“- Wanda and I stole three wallets ! We have three new credit cards and fifty dollars in cash !”, explained the small teenager.

“- Well done, Scott.”, congratulated the blond guy. “And you too, Wanda !”

“- And Sam and I got attacked by the Iron Men…”, dryly stated the kid with hearing aids. “Threw a few punches and got some too…”, he said, pointing at his eye. “We lost Red Wing, Steve…”

“- I know, Clint…”, sighed Steve. “Sam told me what happened…”

“- What are we going to do ?”, softly asked Wanda with big brown eyes, her voice slightly shaking.

She was fidgeting with her red hoodie, clearly struggling to keep her composure. Wanda had joined the gang barely a year ago with Scott, when Clint had recruited them, right after the deal had been made. The two twelve years-old had never known the war between the gangs. Only relative peace. And now The Iron Men had just declared war by breaking the deal.

“- They attacked us”, harshly declared Bucky, his eyes darkening. “I say it’s only fair that we pay them a visit to take back what’s ours and to make them understand that they made a big mistake by attacking us…”

He was expectantly looking at Steve, who seemed to be deeply thinking. Indeed, The Captains’ reputation was at stake now. If they did nothing about it, it would be like sending a message to every other gangs around New-York that Steve’s gang was weak and didn’t fight back when attacked…  
The blond took a decision. Raising his head, he declared in a strong voice:

“- What The Iron Men did was unacceptable. They asked for war. They will get it. Get ready, we will leave first thing in the morning…”

The rest of the team nodded in agreement. Flickers of anger, hatred, fear and excitement appeared in their eyes.

“- So this is war”, muttered Wanda.


	2. Fear me

“- Vision, for the last time, stop playing with this thing, you are going to break it !”

The brown-haired teenager pinched his nose with a sigh. In front of him, the blond kid dropped the drone on the floor, causing it to shatter in several pieces.

“- Whoops…?”, tried the boy named Vision. “Sorry, Tony…”

“- Why do I even bother…”, grumbled the teenager, shaking his head.

He grabbed the main part of the drone and looked at it.

“- Think you can fix it ?”, asked a black boy with really short hair, who seemed to be seventeen, a year older than Tony.

“- Rhodey, come on…”, replied the teenager with a large grin. “When did you hear me say that something was unfixable ?”

“- Sorry I asked”, apologized the boy, chuckling.

“- I mean, there is a reason I’m the leader here, right ?”, pushed Tony, winking.

“- I guess so…”, laughed the other kid.

“- Mister Stark ? Mister Stark ? Mister Stark ? Mist…”, asked a small boy, barely older than ten years old, bouncing up.

“- Peter, I told you COUNTLESS times to stop calling me Mister Stark !”, yelled Tony, his eyes flashing. “I’m only six years older than you. And Mister Stark is my father. I’m just Tony.”

“- Sorry Mis… I mean, Tony… It’s just that… Don’t you think The Captains are going to take their revenge ?”

“- Are you scared, Peter ?”, asked a red-headed girl with a smooth voice that somehow made her seem even more threatening that she would have been without the small gun in her hand.

“- N… No Natasha…”, stuttered the kid, his face paling.

“- Good”, stated another black teenager, playing with a knife. “Because the last thing we need is fear… There is a war coming. Yes, The Captains will want blood for what we did. Our blood.”

“- Well, thanks for lightening up the mood, T’Challa”, said Tony in a sarcastic voice while Peter’ face was getting even paler.

“- I still think the kid would be a burden rather than an asset…”, stated Vision, nonch alantly. “He is way too young to be of any use.”

Seeing Peter’s eyes filling with tears, Tony immediately got to his feet, and moved closer to Vision.

“- I’m the one making the calls”, he whispered; inches away from the teenager’s face. “I’m the reason you are here. I could as well have created you. Without me, you are nothing, nothing, you hear me ? If I say Peter stays, then he stays…”

It was now Vision face that had turned completely white, his pupils dilated in fear. Gulping, he nodded his agreement while Tony was backing out.

“- You have not seen him”, declared Natasha. “There is a reason this kid is called The Spider. He can climb walls and fences as if it were nothing. He is young, yes. Emotional, yes. But we can change that. And he will grow up.”

“- Not if he gets killed first”, muttered Vision before realizing his mistake.

Tony may have been short but he was quick. His fist connected with Vision’s temple less than a second after he had finished his sentence. The blond teenager fell to the ground, his ears ringing and hiss head spinning.

“- Piss me off one last time and I’ll deliver you to The Captains…”, calmly stated the small teenager, as if nothing had happened. “Maybe THEY will kill you…”

Gasping for air, Vision slowly got back to his feet while Tony was heading out of the building where they were, closely followed by Rhodey who ordered to the rest of the team:

“- Stay inside !”

Once outside, the white teenager bursted out:

“- I’m their leader ! And they question my decisions, like this ? I’m the reason we are alive ! I’m the reason we make money ! I’m the reason we are respected !”

“- Tony, calm down”, begged Rhodey.

“- You are my lieutenant ! You can see how they don’t respect me ! How they don’t FEAR me !”

“- THEY FEAR YOU !”

Tony stopped in his diatriba to look at his friend.

“- What ?”

“- They do fear you”, explained Rhodey. “And they respect you. And it’s because they respect you that they want the best for The Iron Men ! Vision was simply concerned about the reputation we could have if we start babysitting ten years old…”

“- Don’t tell me you are on his side…”, spat Tony with contempt.

“- I’m just trying to make you see his point.”, answered Rhodey, still calm while his friend was fuming. “Look, Peter is well accepted in the team, you have seen how Natasha has a soft spot for him.”

“- True…”

“- I know you care about this kid, Tone, but please don’t weaken the gang because of it…”

Tony seemed to be thinking about it for a few seconds when he rose his head and declared:

“- You’re right, I have to be careful…”

“- That’s why you chose ME as your lieutenant”, joked Rhodes.

“- But I’m NOT going to apologize to Vision !”

“- Never expected you to apologize”, sighed the black teenager with a smile.

Tony opened his mouth and was about to speak when the two boys turned their heads.  
There were screams and yells inside the buildings.  
And gunshots.


	3. The plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone !  
I know, it's been forever, but school has kept me quite busy...  
Anyway, I'm now on holidy, so here we go !  
Hope you enjoy this new chapter ! If you do, don't forget to leave a kudo, and especially a comment ! (you know how much I love them...)  
Btw, I changed the title, didn't really like it...  
Love you !  
Hawkeye_girl

“- Congratulations, Viz…”, sighed Natasha. “You really pissed him off this time…”

The blond teenager didn’t reply, only rubbed the side of his head, which still hurt like hell.

“- Maybe I should just go”, declared Peter, with a strangled voice. “I will be no use in this war…”

“- You are part of the gang now, Pete. You are an Iron Man”, reassured the red-headed girl.

“- Thanks Nat”, smiled the boy.

“- Plus, you know what happens to deserters…”

Peter’s face turned completely pale.

“- Shut up, T’challa !”

“- Oh come on, Romanoff… I’m just warning hi…”

“- I said shut up !”, repeated the girl, her hand tightening around her gun.

She was looking suspiciously at the main door of the building. T’Challa frowned and tried to listen but all he could hear was the sound of the wind roaring outside.

“- DUCK !”, suddenly yelled Natasha.

“- Oh my god, where ? ” excitedly asked Peter. “I love ducks !”

“- No, duck ! Get on the ground !”, explained an exasperated T’Challa, who grabbed the two knives in his belt.

“- Oh, right”, realized Peter.

At that moment, the door flew wide open, revealing a blond teenager, a black one, and one with dark long hair. The first one had a Colt while the two others had knifes. The instant they stepped into the room, the blond started firing at the group inside. Peter screamed as he felt a bullet flying right next to his ear. He quickly jumped behind a wooden box and started climbing the engines that were out of service since the factory had closed. Under him, Natasha was firing back at the small trio. On the other side of the room, Tony and Rhodes barged through the back door.

“- What the hell…”, whispered the black teenager.

The two boys ran as fast as they could to get to a safe place. Bullets were flying all across the room. Tony grabbed a small gun that was tucked in his belt and aimed for the attackers. He was about to fire when a rock hit his hand, causing him to drop the gun.

“- Shit !”, he winced in pain.

Raising his head, he noticed, on the top of a pile of boxes, a boy with sandy blond hair, a slingshot in his hands and a smirk on his face. He had probably gotten inside through the vents. It was his usual way of moving, how could he have forgotten that ?

“- Barton…”, Tony hissed.

Not caring about the fire shots anymore, he got up and began yelling at him:

“- That black eye I gave you wasn’t enough ? YOU WANT MORE, JACKASS ?”

“- Wow, that’s not a really nice thing to say, Tones”, joked Clint with a pout on his face. “I’m just here to pay you back…”

With that, he raised his slingshot again and fired at Tony. Without Rhodes’ quick reaction, who pushed his friend aside, the brown-haired teenager would have been hit straight in the eye.   
A few meters away, Sam and T’Challa were brutally attacking each other, knives against knives. The two black boys were fighting for blood. At some point, the Iron Man dived and his blade sliced his enemy’s side. Sam fell on the ground and his opponent was about to finish him when a rock hit him on the head, knocking him unconscious.

“- Thanks, Clint…”, grunted Sam, a hand pressed on his wound.

He suddenly heard footsteps running to him.

“- Fuck, Sam, you okay ?”

“- Yeah, Cap, I’m… I’m fine…”

“- No, you’re clearly not ! We’ll cover you while you get outside and join Scott and Wanda, they’ll get you to the HQ !”

“- That...was not the plan, Steve.”

“- The plan is not to get one of us killed !”

“- THE PLAN IS TO SHOW WHO WE ARE !”, yelled the black teenager.

Wincing, he continued:

“- We already ran away from a fight, Clint and I. We do this again, everyone will know. And we’ll be dead.”

Taking a deep breath, the leader closed his eyes before declaring:

“- Okay, you can stay, but be careful.”

Saying that, he ripped his jacket and tied it around Sam’s waist, to prevent the loss of blood.

“- Thanks, Cap.”

“I’ll give the signal”, simply informed Steve. “Warn the others.”

Sam nodded, as he watched his friend getting outside of the building. Seeing that, Vision, who was fist-fighting against Bucky since they had both lost their knives, exclaimed:

“- He is leaving ! Your leader is leaving ! Do you still think you have your chance now that he left you ?”

He was silenced as Bucky threw a huge punch at his jaw. The blond kid fell, his head spinning. He thought he was hallucinating as he saw his opponent putting a scarf around his nose and mouth, and swim google on his eyes. But as his vision became clearer, he noticed that Sam and Clint had done the same.

“- What the…”, he started, but got interrupted as he noticed Steve getting back inside, this time with a boy and a girl that he didn’t know. They seemed to be holding...tear gas grenades?

“- NATASHA !”, he yelled. “TONY ! SHOOT THEM DOWN ! THEY HAVE GREN…”

He got silenced again as a rock hit him in the nose and he felt blood running down to his mouth. Meanwhile, Wanda, Steve and Scott, all wearing scarves, were already throwing their grenades. Gas began creeping in all the building, making all the Iron Men cough in pain.

“- GET OUT !”, yelled Tony, with tears in his eyes. “Everybody, RETREAT !!!”

He didn’t have to say it twice. His team rushed outside, as fast as they could, without looking back.

“- YES !”, yelled Sam, punching the air. “Outch…”

“- Wanda, we need your help !”, called Steve, his voice slightly muffled by his scarf.

“- Coming”, replied the girl, who immediately grabbed a first-aid kit from the backpack she had brought with her. “Looks like the cut is not too deep, but I’ll still have to put on some stitches…”

“- Thanks, Wanda”, smiled Steve. “Well, that’s good news.”

“- I have other good news !”, announced Clint’s voice.

When he walked out of the mist the gas had created, everyone could take a look at the teenager, who had a firm grip on a small brown-haired boy with teary eyes.

“- Please, don’t kill me…”, whispered Peter.


	4. A new recruit

“- What the hell are we supposed to do with a goddamn kid ? Outch !”, asked Sam as Wanda put the last stitches on his wound.

“- I’m not a kid”, weakly protested Peter, his hands tied by Clint’s scarf. “I’m nearly eleven…”

“- That makes you a kid”, answered Bucky, without even looking at him. “I’m surprised Stark recruited you, unless indeed you have some… abilities…”

“- I have seen him”, informed Clint. “The way he can climb things is… quite impressive for someone his age and his size.”

“- Stark wouldn’t bother himself with a worthless kid”, nodded Steve. “He probably chose him because he thought he would be an interesting asset…”

“- Which means we can probably ask for a good ransom in exchange for his freedom !”, exclaimed Bucky with a wide smile.

A sparkle of hope appeared in Sam’s eyes as he opened his mouth:

“- We can ask for Red Wing !”

Steve smiled and was about to speak but got cut off as Scott’s voice echoed from the back of the building:

“- I… I wouldn’t really count on it if I was you, Sam…”

Appearing from behind a wooden box, the small teenager moved forward, holding the edge of the t-shirt he was wearing, carrying something in it. When he got closer to the group, he kneeled so that everyone could see what it was. Sam’s eyes filled with tears as he saw what was left of his drone.

“- Those… bastards !”, yelled Clint, his eyes flashing with fury. “I’m going to kill them all !”

“- You are not going to do that”, calmly stated Steve, his voice only slightly trembling from the wrath he was feeling. “We will make the Iron Men pay, but we can’t kill them all just like that.”

“- It was only an accident…”, came a small voice.

The group turned to Peter, that everyone had forgotten.

“- Maybe we can send them one of his fingers…”, growled Sam.

“- Please, Vision didn’t mean to drop it on the the floor ! It was an accident ! He didn’t mean to ! I’m sorry ! I’m sorry…”, yelled Peter, tears running on his cheeks.

“- You really want to cut a ten years-old’s finger ?”, questioned Steve.

Sam only grunted before grabbing the different pieces in Scott’s shirt and walking away.

“- Then what are we going to do ?”, asked Clint as he looked at Sam disappearing behind an engine. “We can’t keep this kid, Parker, right ? If we do, the Iron Men will come to get him back and they will be pissed…”

“- They are probably back in their headquarters now”, thought Steve. “ I suggest we send someone to tell them that I want to talk to Stark alone.”

“- We can’t send someone from our team, they will kidnap them until we give Parker back…”, declared Bucky, lost.

“- I didn’t say we should send someone from our team”, smiled Steve. “I haven’t told you how we got those gas bombs, right ?”

Seeing his team nodding, the Captain continued:

“- I know a guy who agreed to join us. He is a natural in science and chemistry. His name is Bruce Banner. It’s been a while since he wanted to join us so I said he could if he made gas bombs for us. I asked him to join us here this afternoon so he should be here in a minute…”

“- And since the Iron Men don’t know he is with us, they will think he is just a random guy we sent !”, exclaimed Scott. “Steve, that’s brilliant !”

Steve smile quickly disappeared from his face as the team heard a noise behind them.

“- Who the hell are you ?”, yelled a voice that everyone recognized as Sam’s.

“- I’m here to meet Steve Rogers !”, explained a frightened voice. “I’m not armed, you can check !”

“- It’s okay, Sam, let him go !”, yelled Steve.

A few seconds later, the black teenager appeared, holding the arm of a dark-haired teenager, about fifteen years-old. He had crooked glasses and wasn’t exactly the muscular type.

“- What the hell is happening, Steve ?”, asked Sam, shaking the arm that was holding the other boy.

“- Sam, guys, meet Bruce Banner. We owe him our latest victory. He is the one who made the gas bombs.”

“- Seems like quite a nerd to me”, whispered Wanda in Clint’s ear.

“- Don’t trust appearances”, whispered Clint back. “You and Scott don’t really look like fighters either…”

Wanda shrugged as Steve greeted Bruce:

“- Welcome to the Captains. Let me introduce you to the team. These two are Sam and Bucky, they are my lieutenants. This is Clint. And here are our two youngest recruits: Wanda and Scott.”

“- Hi guys”, shyly smiled Bruce, waving a hand. “And what about him ?”

“- This kid is not one of us”, explained Steve. “He is our hostage. That’s why I need you to go and see the Iron Men to tell Stark I need to speak to him. Alone.”

Bruce gulped. Clearly, he hadn’t been expecting to take such an active part in the war that soon, Clint realized. He frowned: Bruce seemed like quite a nervous guy, and nervous guys could be dangerous in gangs. They were always the first to become traitors. The blond decided to speak up:

“- What proves us you really are part of the team ? What proves us you are not going to betray us the moment the situation becomes rough for us ?”

At these words, the teenger put his hand in his pocket. Clint quickly grabbed his slingshot but Bruce only raised a piece of paper. He passed it to Clint, who read out loud:

“- Woman shot to death after attempted robbery turned bad.”

“- In what does it concern you ?”, asked Sam, raising an eyebrow.

Bruce clenched his jaw and stared at the ground for a few seconds before meeting the teenager’s eyes and decclaring, a knot in his throat:

“- She was my mother. Stark shot her.”

“- How do you know it was Stark ?”, questioned Scott, with big horrified eyes.

Again, Bruce took a moment before answering. This time, he kept his eyes on the ground when he spoke:

“- Because I saw it. I was there. I was quick enough to escape, but I saw everything. Stark murdered her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like this story ! If you do, please remember to leave a kudo and a comment ! I always reply to comments and you have no idea how much they mean to writers.  
I love you  
Hawkeye_girl


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